18-20He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.
There are many times when we step back and look around us and realize that things just aren't the way they should be. We often say that the world is broken and we wish it could be fixed. Of course each one of us has a answer as to what that fixing would look like.
Paul knew that the world was not the way that God intended. The people of Paul's day were looking for healing just as we are today. Paul believed that Jesus was sent by God to fix the world and restore it to it's intended balance. It was a balance or healing that Paul believed could and would come to the world through Jesus because of his own experiences. What Paul learned in his conversion experience was that the healing that Jesus could bring to a person was not always what the individual had in mind. Paul had wanted to heal the broken world around him by keeping the Jewish faith pure from the new upstart followers of Jesus but when Jesus broke into his world the healing came in ways that he would never have expected or asked for.
Some thoughts to ponder and share with others:
- What similarities do you think Paul might have see in our world today and the world that he lived in?
- What evidence have you seen of Jesus' healing coming into your broken world?
- If you could pray for one part of your world to be healed by Jesus what would it be?
- How might Jesus be inviting you to participate in the healing of your world?
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